The Tissue and Pathology Core will collecl tissue samples from human skin tumor specimens, for use in the SPORE projects and pilots, and for the use of other qualified investigators as determined by the Tissue and Resource Allocation Committee in accordance with the SPORE guidelines. Procedures have been developed for identifying and obtaining informed consent from palients to collect tissue at the time of surgery, as well as for procurement, processing, storage, quality control, gross and microscopic pathological evaluation, and allocation of samples that will ensure optimal utilization and distribution of the limited tissue samples, in addition, the Core will provide expertise to the Projects for the developmenl of in situ imaging and microdissection techniques in sections of hunlan skin tumors for use in the pro.jeers, and for the development of techniques for expert pathological interpretation of histological data, using immunohistochemical methods with a variety of antigen retrieval techniques, as well as in situ hybridization using oligonucleotide probes, laser cutting microdissection, and nucleic acid amplification techniques.